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John Kerry In North Korea, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here on Saturday to seek China’s help in defusing the growing tensions with North Korea.

Even as Mr. Kerry has warned Kim Jong-un not to launch the medium-range Musudan missile, he has signaled that the Obama administration is interested in resuming talks with North Korea on the condition that it Pyongyang agrees to discuss the eventual abandonment of its nuclear weapons program.Mr. Kerry has also voiced support for South Korea’s efforts to establish a dialogue with the North.

North Korea’s apparent determination to expand its nuclear weapons program and the American demand that it commit up front to eventually relinquish its nuclear arms has raised the question of whether there is any basis for negotiations.

“China has an enormous ability to help make a difference here,” Mr. Kerry said on Friday, adding he planned in meetings with Chinese leaders to “lay out a path ahead that can defuse this tension.”

In China on Saturday, Mr. Kerry met Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He was scheduled to meet later in the day with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

“This is a critical moment,” Mr. Kerry said at the start of his Saturday meeting with Mr. Wang, adding that he hoped “two great powers, China and the United States, can work effectively to solve problems.”

Whether the Chinese will prove helpful remains to be seen. The United States has long sought to enlist China’s cooperation in reining in North Korea’s nuclear aspirations. But that has not precluded North Korea for conducting three nuclear tests and test firing ballistic missiles.

Nor does the United States know what China has been telling the North Koreans, including the young and untested Mr. Kim.

“We are not privy to conversations between China and North Korea,” a senior State Department official who is traveling with Mr. Kerry told reporters earlier this week.

Mr. Kerry has not said what specific requests he plans to put to the Chinese. But the senior State Department official said that the United States wanted China to crack down on the illicit flow of funds that move through North Korean front companies and banks that support its weapons efforts.

The United States, the official said, also wants China to “carry some tough message to Pyongyang and make it clear to them that denuclearization is also their goal.”

The United States, the official said, also wants China to “carry some tough message to Pyongyang and make it clear to them that denuclearization is also their goal.”